Who I Was Supposed to Be: Short Stories
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Book Overview
Behind every face in "Who I Was Supposed to Be" is a singular quirk to explore, a peculiarity to celebrate. In Susan Perabo's world, nothing can be taken for granted: here, a retired grocer takes up jewel theft in his twilight years; a data processor squanders her inheritance on one of Princess Diana's gowns; a mugging victim feigns amnesia to win back his wife. In the tradition of Lorrie Moore, Susan Perabo's slightly off-center lens looks hard at the banal and the bizarre, and at the human condition, where she finds extraordinary magic within the smallest of gestures. Sharply written and overlaid with a mischievous wit, "Who I Was Supposed to Be" is an unforgettable homage to laughter, love, and wonder.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0684862336
ISBN13:9780684862330
Release Date:August 1999
Publisher:Simon & Schuster
Length:192 Pages
Weight:0.80 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.7" x 8.8"
Customer Reviews
5 ratings
I am just thankful I was one of her students...
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
I read Susan Perabo's collection after being her student over Christmas. Wow. These stories amaze me. Well written, she does so well what she has taught her own students. The gears in my head turned, and I finally understood all those things she wrote on my stories or tried to explain in class. I love her characters. The data processing woman with the Diana dress. The pot smoking music teacher father. The woman whose baby just died. The actor whose marriage is ending so he invites a klepto father to stay with him. On and on they go, so confused, so much in pain, but she makes their lives and situations funny. It's a bittersweet pain, but Perabo has one of the most original ways of communicating pain I've seen since the writers she told us to read. I still can't get out of my mind the one called "Explaining Death to the dog". The pain the woman feels when showing the dog the book of Time photos or showing her the dead animal, wow. I read it three times in a row the first night I read it. I am still in awe of it. As she told my class so many times, "Show, don't tell."Perabo shows. I can't believe I was lucky enough to have classes with her. I just wish I read these sooner.
Great stories
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
Barring a very few exceptions, the stories presented here are top-notch. I finished this book in half a day, and wanted more when I ran out of stories. I would love to see more stories about the characters here!
Well Done Short Stories
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
I found this collection by accident and didn't know what to expect. Short stories can be so good, or so bad. These stories are very good, and consistently good. These are stories of people searching for something missing in their lives, well told stories with humor and heart. Enjoy this collection.
Startling and unusual - a wonderful read
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
This is an amazing book, almost unnerving in its ability to capture the way people really think and act in their weirdest, darkest, and most uncensored moments - but also in their best moments. Tolstoy said that each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, and Perabo's actually like a modern Tolstoy in her sketches of the details of family life (and friendship too), the way it shocks you and the way it doesn't surprise you at all.
Humor and depth, depth and humor
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Reading Susan Perabo's short stories I was moved, uplifted to laughter, and stung by the recognition of deep emotional experiences. I was amazed to have old pleasures and guilts resurface through the thoughts and experiences of people whose lives are so utterly unlike mine. Each short story invites a long conversation to express the pleasure and pain and plentiful humor. For example, Perabo's characters in "Thick as Thieves" convey so much in one SHORT story about people, their regrets, and possibilities while still being so exceedingly funny. I will buy ten more copies of the book and send them to the people most likely to sit down and discuss them with me, ASAP.
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